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Emerging Technologies
Emerging Technologies to Enable and Improve Space Exploration and Colonization The current advancement of space exploration would be expedited if certain technologies were to reach full maturity. One set of interrelated technologies concerns robotics and computation. The other key area to focus on is advanced materials science and chemistry. Advances in manufacturing will allow us to create the tools and supplies needed in space rapidly and immediately. We also need to be able to provide the energy that these processes will use, and so advancements in energy extraction and storage will allow us to last longer and venture further out into space. Certain developments in atmospheric travel will ease the transition to regular commercial spaceflight. Finally, advances in medicine and biology would allow us to survive and thrive on the long journeys through space. There has been a recent acceleration in the development of automation, artificial intelligence, and alternative methods of computation. This will allow small crews of people to delegate tasks to machines that used to require several individuals. It will also augment decision making processes in emergencies and at times when communication is slow or difficult. Quantum, optical, and molecular computing will allow us to push Moore’s law even further. Neural network and neuromorphic systems will let computers work in a fashion similar to the human brain. Another factor limiting our advancement into space is the materials we have available to us. Nanotechnology is giving us the ability to finely tune material properties. Stronger, more inert, and radiation resistant tensile materials would enable us to fully develop tether and elevator systems. Lighter and stronger alloys would help us build more efficient spacecraft. Being able to store chemical fuels in higher energy metastable states would allow us to store more energy in the same volume. Room temperature superconductors would enable better electromagnetic launchers and thrusters. A variety of carbon materials are available with many useful properties. Additive and subtractive manufacturing at all different size scales will allow us to maintain supplies and build needed items on distant worlds and long journeys. Objects that are programmed with the ability to self-build or morph into their final form with no human interference will ensure that we will not be short on knowledge or tools for the job. Some will be able to morph into multiple shapes to accomplish different tasks. We will also have the ability to create composites, nanomaterials, and metamaterials with specific properties on demand. In order to accomplish all these tasks, we will need to collect, transmit, and store energy. Space solar power will keep improving because of increasing efficiencies. Nuclear power in the form of alpha and betavoltaics, fission, and hopefully fusion and antimatter will provide power where there is no stellar energy. Lasers of various frequencies will help transmit both energy and momentum. We will also have to develop better and more compact ways to store electrical energy. If we can master some problems that have riddled the aerospace industry for decades, we may make space even more accessible. Some problems have hindered speed increases in atmospheric travel, including the sonic boom, compression and reentry heating, and the ability of air-breathing engines to ingest air at supersonic speeds and high altitudes. A simple, efficient, and safe method for vertical take off would also expand our ability to utilize our airspace. If we could succeed at building a fully reusable spaceplane that can function in the necessary range of velocities, altitudes, and other harsh conditions, it would open space travel up to the masses. The biggest limit we face is our finite lifespans. Journeys in space, even at near luminal velocities, will take a long time. Also, the whole suite of services available in Earth’s hospitals will not be available in space. Advances in life support and suspended animation will help us endure long trips, along with cryogenics and life extension. Regeneration and lab grown organs would allow us to handle emergencies. The miniaturization of medical devices and implants with remote monitoring will allow prophylactic measures to be taken. Gene editing will allow us to adapt to new environments we encounter in space.